The Most Valuable Brand

What is the most valuable brand? Interbrand keeps track of the most valuable brands in the world. Click here for the top 100 brands of 2011. In the business world branding is very important - it is the way the world perceives a business.

Churches have gotten into branding. Many churches are dropping their denominational names such as "Lutheran" or "Baptist," etc. Why? It has to do with branding. In most cases those churches think the denominational label detracts from their perception by the world. The denominational label may be old fashioned or may carry some negative baggage.

However, as I look at the list of the top 100 brands for 2011, I don't think there is a single company on that list that has recently changed their name. Does changing your name really make a difference? I think people figure that out fast. On the other hand, I see the companies with the top 100 brands constantly trying to improve their products and services.

This is really what the church should be doing. One of my prayers for Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is that we would be the church that God wants us to be. That means being faithful to God's word in what we teach and practice - faithful in God's truth and in God's love.

As the Apostle Paul says: "Strive to excel in building up the church" (1 Corinthians 14.12 NKJ).

Remembering Sarah

Tonight, at our Evening Prayer Service, we'll be remembering Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

Sarah lived to be 127 years old. The Scriptures truthfully reveal her faults as well as her faith. Peter points to her as a model of the submissive wife who called her husband "Lord" (1 Peter 3.6). Perhaps this is the reason so much is said in regard to her death. Abraham mourned her death, wept for her, and went to some expense to bury her at Machpelah. Isaac, her son, was so close to her that none but Rebekah could "comfort him after his mother's death" (Genesis 24.6-7).

Newsweek: The Sex Addiction Epidemic

When I saw this article, I thought, it's just another gimmick to sell magazines. As I looked at it more closely, and especially the new movie "Shame" that is coming soon, I realized this might actually be helpful.

There is nothing really new here. The culprit and common denominator in this malady is always porn. Illicit sexual experiences become addicting, and they fuel a drive for a bigger and better high. What we see again and again turns into what we do until it destroys us.

The ancients did not have digital porn. But they had something better... Religion devoted to sex addiction. I've always suspected that the Baal worshipers and the devotees of Aphrodite never had problems getting their teenagers to go to church.

One comment in the article surprised me (for a Newsweek article). A sex therapist said, "We see a lot of heterosexual men who are addicted to sex and, because culturally and biologically women aren't as readily available to have sex at all times of the day, these men will turn to gay men for gratification."

God's answer to all of this is still the same. When a person has become so ashamed of their sexual sins (or any other sin), God says, "Such were some of you (hetero- and homo- sexual sinners). But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6.11).

Jesus is the only one who promises to take the shame away. And He does.

The Fire of Judgment Day

There is an old sermon illustration that compares Judgment Day to a wagon train crossing the prairie. Heading west, the pioneers saw a line of fire across the horizon coming straight toward them as it was driven by the wind. Quickly the wagon master gathered all the people together. Then he took several men with him, and they walked back over the trail to the east from which they had just come. The men deliberately set the grass on fire. After enough of it had burned, they moved the wagons back onto the blackened landscape. Now the original fire was coming toward them furiously. Some of the people cried out in fear as it approached. But the wagon master assured them: "Don't be afraid. We are standing where the fire has already burned."

That is a beautiful illustration of Judgment Day. We who believe in Jesus stand with Him on Calvary where the judgment of God against sin already burned. In His death, Jesus took the fire of God's wrath for us. As the wrath of Judgment Day approaches, those who are in Christ have nothing to fear. They stand where the fire has already burned. For more on the Christian view of Judgment Day, see my sermon on Judgment Day from November 20, 2011.

1 Thessalonians 1.10 (We)"wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come."

Picture: Prairie Fire by William Ranney, 1848

Note: This illustration is adapted from one attributed to Henry A. Ironside. Henry was a well-known preacher in the early 1900s. But he was also a strong advocate for the teaching of dispensationalism - an approach to Bible interpretation that I strongly reject.

The Mind Is Like Silly Putty

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4.6-7 ESV).

Our minds are wonderful creations of God. But did you know they need to be guarded? When I was a boy I used to play with Silly Putty. You could do a lot of neat things with it. You could make shapes, and you could even bounce it like a ball. But the best thing to do was to flatten it out, press it on the Sunday comics, and pull up a copy of the comic on the Silly Putty. Our minds are like that too! They are made by God to pick up everything. If we constantly expose our minds to bad things, they will get filled with bad thoughts and desires. Prayer points our minds toward God, cleanses our hearts and minds, and fills them with good things. All of this helps to control anxiety.

For more on the problems of anxiety and the help that God gives us see my sermon "The Right Things Really Matter." (October 10, 2011)

The Ultimate Kabash!

People know more Hebrew words than they realize. The most obvious are words like Halleluja = "Praise to the LORD" and Amen = "It is firm, true." One of my favorites is Kabash = "Subdue, tread, put down."

It is found, for example, in Micah 7.19 "He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea." What a colorful image of God's forgiveness! The word "subdue" is the Hebrew word Kabash. In Jesus Christ, God puts the ultimate Kabash on sin.

For more see my sermon "Crossbearing" (August 28,2011).

The Centrality of Christ in Christian Education

The new school year is here! Teachers are getting their classrooms and lesson plans ready. Students are assembling their school supplies. This has always been one of my favorite times of the year!

As the school year begins, I've been thinking about the importance of the religion classes in our school. Beginning with "Jesus Time" in preschool and continuing all the way to Confirmation Class in 8th grade and theology classes in Lutheran high school and college... teaching the faith takes priority in all Christian education.

We make substantial sacrifices of time and money to maintain this priority. Some might even think it is a waste of time - a detriment to an excellent education. Why then do Christian schools still lead the way in academics year after year? The reason is that to serve Christ we must not only know what He teaches in the Bible, we must also know what He teaches through His creation. We serve the Lord in a variety of callings, and for each of them it is vital that we understand languages, mathematics, history, science, etc. It is precisely because we give so much emphasis to God's word that we also give so much emphasis to learning everything else.

One of my favorite quotes on this idea comes from Sir Francis Bacon, whom some consider the first philosopher of science:

"To conclude therefore let no man upon a weak conceit of sobriety or an ill applied moderation think or maintain that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the book of God's word or in the book of God's works divinity or philosophy but rather let men endeavour an endless progress of proficience in both only let men beware that they apply both to charity and not to swelling to use and not to ostentation and again that they do not unwisely mingle or confound these learnings together." (Advancement of Learning, 1605, p. 10)

God bless all the students and teachers heading back to school this fall. I pray that we would all advance in our learning from "both" of God's good books!